Tokyo Raiders (2000)



	Tokyo Raiders		Return to Review Archive - T
	Cecilia Cheung, Tony Leung, Ekin Cheng and Kelly Chan raid Tokyo.
	Year:	2000
	Director:	Jingle Ma Chor-Sing
	Cast:	Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Ekin Cheng Yi-Kin, Kelly Chan Wai-Lam, Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi, Toru Nakamura, Hiroshi Abe, Kumiko Endo, Maju Ozawa, Minami Sirakawa, Yuko Moriyama, Pauline Yam Bo-Lam, Kou Shibasaki
	The Skinny:	Lunar New Year fluff that entertains on the purest of levels. The stars are engaging, the action well-choreographed, and the tone suitably light.
	Review by Kozo:	The monster Lunar New Year hit of 2000 features an all-star cast and all-star hijinks. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai stars as Lam, the toughest private eye in Tokyo. Despite his small stature and broken Japanese, he owns the Tokyo streets with his suave charisma and John Steed-like fighting skills. He falls in with jilted bride Macy (Kelly Chan), who arrives in Tokyo chasing her wayward groom Takahashi (Toru Nakamura of Gen-X Cops). Tailing her is interior designer Yung (Ekin Cheng), who’s after Takashi to settle a debt. Soon their paths cross and mayhem ensues. Various factions are after Macy for reasons not entirely unknown, and it seems that Lam and Yung may have a few secrets themselves. Disbelief must be suspended during the course of this 2-hour action comedy as the fighting is over-the-top and the characters are beyond silly (Ekin Cheng as a five-time wushu champion?). Eventually the main plot is uncovered, and quite frankly it isn’t all that interesting. What saves the movie is action and lots of it. It seems every other scene contains some excuse for a fight or chase sequence. Leung handles himself well during his well-choreographed action scenes, and he even manages to do most of his own stunts. Cheng fakes his fighting pretty well, and he fits his annoying, wacky character to a T. Kelly Chan looks great, which is par for the course for her. I’m not being too overly critical of this movie, which is another in HK’s big-budget action sweepstakes. I’ve begun to frown upon poorly-plotted HK action spectacles, but Tokyo Raiders manages to remind us that it’s all in the name of fun. Unlike the ridiculous 2000 A.D., Tokyo Raiders acknowledges its unrealism with the occasional wink to the audience. Director Jingle Ma doesn’t inject much unnecessary emotion into the film, and he rarely slows the pace. The only boring patches are the requisite soul-searching by Macy, who can’t understand the loss of her fiancée. After that, just forget about any cheesy romance angle. Watch for the action, the location (in addition to directing, Ma provides his usual superlative cinematography), and for Tony Leung, who once again shows why he's one of Hong Kong's most popular actors. His charm and easy charisma lets us know from frame one: this is all in fun. And it is. (Kozo 2000)
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 0 NTSC Universe Laser Widescreen Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1 Removable English and Chinese Subtitles
		DVD (USA) Region 1 NTSC Columbia/Tri-Star Home Video 16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen Cantonese and English dubbed Language Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 Removable English Subtitles

		images courtesy of www.goldenharvest.com
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